ROME, May 7 (Reuters) - A maverick comic who wants Italy toquit the euro made big gains in local elections on Monday whileformer Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's party lost heavily asvoters joined a wave of anti-austerity anger across Europe andpunished incumbent parties.

The results, following the victory of French SocialistFrancois Hollande and major losses for traditional big partiesin Greece on Sunday, will add to pressure for European leadersto ease measures adopted to counter the financial crisis.

Prime Minister Mario Monti was not in the race but for thetwo main parties that support his technocrat government inparliament, the centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) and thecentre-left Democratc Party (PD), the vote was the biggestbarometer of support ahead of national elections next year.

The 5 Star Movement led by Beppe Grillo, a shaggy-hairedcomedian whose caustic invective against the established partieshas gained increasing resonance in the wake of a spate ofcorruption scandals, made some spectacular advances.

In the northern city of Parma, it knocked Berlusconi's PDLwhich had previously ruled the city, into third place, winning ascore of nearly 21 percent, while in Genoa, it won 15 percent,according to early projections.

At its first political test in 2010 the movement, whichorganises itself through the Internet and social networks, wonjust 1.8 percent of the vote, rising to 3.4 percent at Milan'smayoral election the following year.

"Grillo has confirmed his political existence. He's the bigwinner," said Maurizio Pessato, vice president of pollingcompany SWG. "The weakness of the PDL was confirmed, and perhapsit's the biggest loser of this vote."

Painful tax hikes, pension cuts and unpopular labour reformshave fuelled mounting opposition to Monti since he came to powerlast year with a mandate to save Italy from a Greek-style debtemergency. He has placed increasing emphasis on reforms topromote growth in his recent public comments.

BIG WINS

More than 9 million people or some 20 percent of theelectorate were eligible to vote in more than 900 towns andcities across Italy in the first significant election sinceMonti took office in November.

The election of mayors and city councillors will have nodirect impact on his ability to press on with the structuralreforms he has promised to revive Italy's sickly economy andcontrol its enormous public debt.

But with national elections due in 2013 and a fragmentedpolitical landscape in which all of the main parties are in someform of trouble, Monti's ability to push ahead with unpopularreforms could be limited.

The PDL, still struggling to re-establish its identity afterthe fall of its scandal-prone founder Berlusconi last year, isin particular trouble and could be tempted to rebel againstunpopular measures such as a much-hated property tax.

"We support the Monti government but naturally we won't bindourselves to vote for measures we don't agree with, that'sabsolutely logical," Berlusconi wrote on his Facebook page afterthe results.

The PD said the vote was "a real political revolution"because the centre left was in pole position in almost all thelarge towns that voted.

However, across the country, there were big gains foropposition or protest candidates, while abstention levels werealso up in a sign of growing disaffection with the politicalprocess and all the main parties.

In Verona, Flavio Tosi, the popular Northern League mayor ofthe city shrugged off a corruption scandal which has rocked hisparty, the biggest opposition group in parliament, to return tooffice without the need for a runoff ballot.

In Palermo, veteran anti-Mafia campaigner Leoluca Orlando,of the opposition Italy of Values party and backed by the hardleft Refounded Communist party, had a strong lead after thefirst round.